A little case, a huge change
by Parchemine
Summary: NCIS LA has been charged with a new case, but Callen is acting weird. The team tries to figure out why and because he doesn't want to tell them, they bring in an old friend of Callen's. Then without him 100% focused, they can't solve the case.
1. New case, new Callen?

Hello everyone; I don't want to waste your time with a long intro but it's my first story here on so go easy on me ;) And by the way English isn't my mother tongue, I had a language program going through it but I'm pretty sure that there are some mistakes left.

* * *

><p>Chap 1. New case, new Callen?<p>

It was a beautiful morning. Sam came to headquarter very early to work out a little bit before the others would arrive. Suddenly he heard a voice. When he stopped and listened again he recognized that it was Callen's. He approached their office quietly and saw his friend sitting there and talking to someone on the phone.  
>"I swear that I'll find out and come for you if you know something you don't tell me and then, I'm sure you will tell me everything you've ever known!" He was angry. Not just upset about something but really furious. It didn't take much to hear that.<br>Sam still didn't move, but Callen must have sensed his presence. His anger fell off and it seemed as if it had never existed.  
>"Mornin' Sam, had a nice weekend?" He turned around and smiled. Sam checked his face, tried to figure out what he was feeling, what he was thinking and hiding. But Callen knew how to present a mask full of feelings he made up to push people away, to make sure they don't find out the truth.<br>"G, what's going on?" Sam asked carefully. Callen was about to answer but Sam was faster:  
>"Don't say nothing! Don't act as if I was stupid. You know that you can't play me. I'll always find out. Even more after that weird phone call on a Monday morning when nobody else is in the office. Normally you wouldn't be here either. You're always late on Mondays!"<br>"Easy Sam", Callen replied, "I did nothing wrong, I just had to make a personal call. Look, there is that woman. Amy lived with her for some months. Longer than with the most other families she stayed with. She's the only who could know something about her and Amy loved her. I saw pictures of them. But she moved to New York a few weeks ago, so I hired someone to keep an eye on her. Now let's say that this someone isn't the most confidential person and he starts getting lazy and is about to lose her. I just wanted to make sure he continues doing what he's paid for. "  
>No emotion or feeling slipped over his face while he lied to his partner. And Sam knew he was lying. A perfect mask. Did he try to protect the woman, a mission, himself or Sam? Sam took a deep breath. "Just don't push me away, G. We're partners, you can trust me."<br>"I know Sam and I do." Callen grabbed his bag and had off to the gym. Sam followed him but they stayed quiet during the whole training.

Deeks and Kensi joined them a little bit later and they noticed that something was wrong with Callen, too. Callen who didn't want to be observed at all the time by his worried colleagues explained quickly that everything was alright but nobody bought it.  
>Then, Hatty stopped by and sent them to OPS. "Eric will brief you on our new case; I'll join you in a few minutes." They left the gym but before Callen was out of sight, Hatty said just loud enough so he could hear it: "Mr. Callen, a word, please."<br>Callen turned around: "Hatty?"  
>"Even if it's the present we're living in, it's the past following us and always being a powerful part of our lifes, Mr. Callen. If there are people able to use this strong and dangerous weapon against you, you'd better keep your friends close. Otherwise they won't have the fitting shield to protect you when you'll need it." She stared at him as if she wanted to burn her words into his brain but at the same time there was something gentle and soft in her eyes. She knew that her agent was having a rough time. Callen starred back, his head slightly sloped, trying to figure out all the double meanings of Hatty's words. There were always important messages between the lines when Hatty spoke.<br>"I'm fine, Hatty", he said. She nodded slowly, turned around and went away. He followed her and they joined the others in OPS.

"… And so that means that the case has been transferred to NCIS. LAPD still searches the crime scene. Officer Tay is leading the investigation down there and he's been informed that we're taking over."  
>"Thanks Eric!" Sam said, not without taking a look at Callen and Hatty. Both keeping their emotions secret.<br>"Agent Blye, Mr. Deeks, crime scene. Let the officer give you all the details and find out what was going on there. Sam, the victims wife and brief your partner on the way."  
>Hatty left OPS without saying anything else.<br>"Let's go!" Deeks and Kensi left for the crime scene which was a house in the west of LA. It had big garden, the house had two floors and there was a high fence hiding them both from curious visitors passing on the street.  
>In the car, Sam asked again, not giving up his partner: "Are we good?" Callen nodded: "Sure, so what's going on?"<br>Sam knew that G didn't want to talk about it, so for the moment he just went on: "A language genius was killed at his house this morning. His surveillance cameras were on but the hardware has been stolen. Neighbours heard the shooting and called the police. Two shots in the chest, one in the head from behind. Several bruises and wounds committed with a sharp knife."  
>"Torture?"<br>"Probably. No fingerprints on or near the victim. LAPD's still searching. The man worked for the government, he knew several languages including Arabic dialects which made him very valuable for international crime investigations and negotiations with eastern countries. He translated a lot, he knew a lot."  
>"He knew too much", Callen assumed, "the wife?"<br>"She works as a flight attendant. She wasn't in town for a week. We'll find her at the airport. Her flight's landing in fifteen minutes. Now she has three days off. They were married for five years, met each other on one of his business flights", Sam smiled  
>"That's what happens when you mix up private life and work, I guess", Callen added ironically.<br>They arrived at the airport and asked her way through to the flight attendants' recreation room. A pilot told them that "" was changing and that they could wait for her inside.

At the same time, Kensi and Deeks were told, that there had been at least two shooters. LAPD had found footprints near the door.  
>"We're lucky that the driveway is all dusty. Everyone who gets in, kind of stays in as well", Deeks said with a big smile. Kensi couldn't help smiling too.<br>"They were probably torturing him right here in the living room. There is no blood in any of the other rooms." They inspected the dead body with a gun in the left hand.  
>"Was he actually left-handed or did they just leave him the gun thinking we wouldn't notice it?" Deeks asked.<br>"It was his gun. He has a licence for it and the bullets in his body were not fired with this gun. They came from two different guns, though", the officer explained.  
>"He's all yours now!"<br>"Thank you officer", Kensi gave him a little smile which he returned visibly pleased before he left: "Mr. Deeks."  
>"Officer."<p>

Deeks waited until officer Tay couldn't hear them anymore. Then he raised his eyebrow: "What was that?"  
>"What? Nothing! It was nothing. So, I think..."<br>"Stop it, you try to avoid the subject: Did you know 'officer Tay'?  
>"Yea, we met at several investigations in the past, but it's nothing, I was just being friendly! SO let's focus on the case, if you don't mind."<br>"Unbelievable, what was going on between you?"  
>"Deeks!" Kensi said sharply and kneeled on the floor to continue searching for traces.<p> 


	2. We're missing something

_Before I continue I just wanted to say that I don't own any of the known characters. They we're created by the NCIS LA producers. I added some new characters, though._  
><em>And I don't know where they will lead Callen's story or the story of every other known NSIC LA character, this is just my version...<em>

_Feel free to comment and tell me what you think of it!_

* * *

><p>Chap.2: We're missing something<p>

At the airport, a young woman came out of the changing room. She had dark hair and was a little bit smaller than Callen. The two agents looked at each other and then they compared her to the woman on the photo Eric had sent them to their mobile phones. They nodded and stood ab.  
>"Mrs. Renald?", Callen asked.<br>"Yes?" she seemed calm and controlled. Nobody had told her about the murder yet.  
>"NCIS, agents Callen and Hanna, we need to talk to you. At some quiet place." Callen knew the following part wasn't going to be easy, but he was used to telling people that their loved ones were dead. It was a part of his job and in his eyes; every job had some displeasing sides. But he assumed that those moments were also the reason why he always tried to keep people as far away from him as possible. He knew how people reacted when they lost somebody they loved. He had seen what it did to them a hundred times. It wasn't nice and it wasn't something you would go through if you could avoid it. So he tried to avoid it. His colleagues at work were already too close for him. But he couldn't change it, they needed to know and support each other. If they wouldn't, they couldn't do their work. But with the other agents he knew at least that they could protect themselves and they knew that it was dangerous being around him. It was different with "normal" people. In addition, he couldn't tell anyone else about his real job. Starting any relationship with a lie seemed wrong to him. At least if it was part of the job. He loved his job. His job was his life.<p>

Now the woman seemed skeptic while she walked towards a door signaling Sam and Callen to follow her. It was a small room with two sofas and an armchair. The furniture and one wall were of a dark red. The rest was white. Even the curtains and the little table in the middle of the room.  
>"Please, take a seat." She sat down on one of the sofas and Callen and Sam took place on the other one, face to face with her.<br>"So, what's going on?" she asked a little insecure.  
>"", Sam began softly, "did your husband have any enemies?" Now she became scared. Her voice was shaking when she answered: "No…No, he is such a nice guy…Is he ok? Is my husband ok?" Callen sighed and Sam knew he had to take over. Even if he was huge, there was something in his voice that calmed people down and made them feel safe. Both agent felt that the woman in front of them was going to need that.<br>"I'm sorry, Miss. Your husband is dead. He was killed in your house this morning."  
>"No", she whispered, " NO! NO!", she started crying, hiding her face behind her hands.<br>Sam waited a few minutes before he continued: "We know that this is hard and we'd love to give you more time but we need to find out who killed him and why and for that we need your help. Did he tell you something about his job lately, a new case, new business partners or personal issues with employees? Anything that could be useful, special, different or that could have caused a fight or reopened old wounds? "  
>She tried to stop crying, tried to calm down but her whole body was shaking. She snuffled several times until Callen passed her a tissue.<br>"Thank's", she said shyly.  
>"Take your time, it's ok." Even if he had seen it so many times, it still hurt Callen to break harts like this. Harts of people he didn't even know. But well, maybe it was easier than breaking harts of people you knew and cared about. On the other side, if you had to break the hart of someone you used to care about it's often because that person had done something wrong so you didn't mind anymore to break her hart which definitely made it easier. He shook his head to get rid of these confusing thoughts and continued waiting for the woman to calm down.<p>

Back at the victim's house, Deeks and Kensi had figured out a possible course of events for the crime. The files and papers on the desk, properly arranged in piles with an open pen still on them showed that Mr. Renald was probably working when they rang at the door. They didn't break in because neither the door nor the windows were damaged and they didn't search the files and documents because they would never have rearranged it neatly. Nevertheless, it could be that they had taken a whole pile because there were two ranges of piles on the desk and one had three piles while the other had four. The hole was just big enough for a pile of A4 sheets to fit in.

Deeks summarised the possible story: "So they knocked at the door, he opened and they told him anything to come in, or they just forced their way in, I don't really mind. They wanted to know what he knew. They were looking for files, documents, information but he didn't say anything because he was told not to. So they knocked him down, went into the kitchen to get a knife because we found footprints there, came back and tortured him. He probably told them which file would serve them the most, they finished him off. One shooter stood right in front of him, but Renald was fighting back as a brave man and he couldn't take a proper shot, so his backup just continued his colleagues work by shooting him in the back of the head. Then they took the whole pile and left."  
>"Yes but we don't know. It could also be that it was a...jealous friend or a mentally ill ex-wife. It could be everything, Deeks."<br>He nodded: "Yea, thank's for supporting my theory. Mentally ill ex-wife, as usual! And of course she came with her present husband." Kensi role her eyes: "It was an example, ok?"

They walked through the house for another time. They were missing something but they couldn't figure out what it was. In the kitchen, Deeks suddenly noticed a strange looking machine. He asked Kensi what she would use that one for but she couldn't tell him. It was heavy and felt cold, even under her special gloves. She pushed the on-button on the backside and a trap on the lower side opened. There were buttons with numbers on them and a small display. The two agents were astonished. "Deeks, it's a safe!"

So Kensi called Callen to ask him if the wife knew about this safe or even knew the code.  
>"Mrs. Renalds, our agents just found a hidden safe in your house. It's camouflaged as a kitchen machine. Do you know this safe?"<br>She shook her head. "No, I didn't, I always wondered what it was but Harry wouldn't tell me. He used to say that it was a really old machine from his grandmother and that he didn't want to tell me. He wanted to fix it and show me then, but he never had time. You know, we were barely at home. I'm often away with airplanes and he often leaves the country for his work, too..." she dried her eyes with the tissue.  
>"Do you know some code your husband was using for credit cards, computer account or similar things?" She shook her head again and told them they always kept those things secret to be sure that they couldn't bespeak all accounts. Callan wondered if they always feared something like that could happen. In that case she would have known more than she wanted to tell. Until that moment she had just told them a little bit about her and his work, nothing really helpful and during these small parts she always restarted crying. So Sam and Callen decided to bring her to the safe house. Deeks and Kensi wanted to bring Eric the safe so he could open it and then they would join them in the safe house.<p>

They let Mrs. Renalds alone so she could finally calm down, always watching her over the surveillance system. Sam suddenly recognized that Callen was starring at the television but that he didn't really look. His look seemed to go right through it and lost itself somewhere only Callen could go. Something was wrong. Definitely. Otherwise Callen would stay focused on the case as he normally did.  
>"G?" Callen didn't react on his friend's calling.<br>"G!" Sam repeated louder and it was as if he had woken up his partner from a deep sleep.  
>"What?", he asked a little bit confused.<br>"Are you ok?" It didn't take long and Callen was mentally back in the safe house. It seemed as if he had never been gone. But Sam felt that it was another mask. Callen was still hiding something but he pretended to think only about the case.  
>"Yes, sure, I'm just trying to figure out what we could be missing."<br>Sam nodded unsatisfied. He didn't believe a word of what his friend was saying. But one thing was sure; Sam was missing something, too. Something that could help him figure out what was going on with Callen.


End file.
